IPOH, Sun. - Welcoming ASEAN members' pledge to abolish dadah
production in the region, National PEMADAM president Datuk Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob
expressed hope that the agreement signed in Manila yesterday would be translated into
action. "We hope the agreement will not turn out to be just another agreement but a
commitment especially from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar." Megat Junid said this was the
first time that all ASEAN member countries, including those which are part of the Golden
Triangle, had jointly agreed to abolish dadah production and distribution. " Thailand
has taken stern action in combating dadah where all the poppy plantations in Chiangrai
have been replaced with cash crops, a move which Myammar and Laos have yet to undertake in
a systematic manner." "We hope with the agreement, the two countries will work
towards replacing the poppy plants with suitable cash crops," he said after opening
an anti dadah and AIDS seminar for students of institutes of higher learning in Perak.
About 400 students took part in the one-day seminar at the Perak branch of Universiti
Sains Malaysia in Tronoh, about 40km from here. Megat Junid said with the recent
agreement, especially that one which involved Myanmar which produced 60 per cent of the
world's supply of heroin, Malaysia's struggles to reduce the demand and supply of dadah
looked promising